Weekend Review

Happy Monday, friends! Hope your weekend was a good one. Ours involved easy, natural holiday decorating, two cousins giggling, and a wood stove doing double duty as both a house-warmer and diaper-dryer. It was a good time, indeed.

A note about Huxley and potty-training, to those with littles that would like to chime in with their informed advice. I pretty much had him fully potty trained this summer. My secret weapon was, well, nudity. I’d let him run around free as a bird out here (it’s a seriously private setting), and he had the potty thing down solid. Then cooler weather moved in and clothing returned. In late September, we travelled to NYC, and the traveling naturally required diapers. Then the flu and the ear infection (and its attendant round of antibiotics, and all that taking antibiotics entails) that occurred in November threw our efforts another wrench. So, we’re back to diapers when we’re out, and undies at home, and lots and lots of accidents along the way. Any suggestions from those who’ve been down this path for getting him back on board? I’m in no huge rush, but it would, of course, be nice to have him make forever friends with the loo.

It’s grey and rainy here in the cove today, which has been incredibly conducive to my meeting a writing deadline, and meeting it early, by two days. Gotta love that! I’ve been bitten some kind of hard by the baking bug, and I do believe a bit of fudge and stollen-making are in my immediate future. Along with some spiked eggnog-swilling. Oh, yeah.

Here’s hoping the week ahead is filled with health and happiness for you and yours.

Lots of folks don’t like this option, but we have a wee little toilet in the bathroom. When we were potty training, we did no pants for a month or two inside the house, and just let my son go to the potty when he wanted. Now, we have easy pull down pants (like pjs or sweat pants) for the house so he can go to the bathroom when he needs to. When we go out, we just pester the crap out of him like every 20-30 minutes or so, and make sure to put him on the toilet before we do things that aren’t accessible to a toilet, like when we leave the house for a drive, or put him in the stroller to go running. When he goes, we make a big deal about it and talk about how he’s a big boy and whatnot, and he gets a sticker for a potty chart we had set up for him. It seemed to work pretty well. We usually only have accidents now when he’s busy playing, or when we forget to make him pee before we drive somewhere.

I don’t know how old Huxley is but my best piece of advice, which I of course didn’t listen to initially, just wait until they are three. Then there will be no training needed! As my pediatrician said, you can train them for months when there 2 or wait until they are 3 and be done with it in 2 weeks. good luck!
P.S. been reading the blog for months now – totally addicted…

I agree, too, and add only that the cold (and the hastle of getting clothes on and off) may be part of the issue. You may find that in the spring, he just decides to be done with diapers. The wisdom-of-generations where I live (Portugal) is that potty training should always be done in the warmer months.

I was going to say the same thing. 3 seemed to be the magic number with my kids as well. I had friends and family telling me about their “successful” potty training methods but, it looked to me like the parents were constantly eagle eyeing their toddlers and then cleaning up accidents. Be patient and let your little one figure out his time on his own. They all do, some sooner than others.

I now have 3 potty trained children, but each was different so not sure I’ll be any help. My most important lesson was to not push it. They do it when they are ready and to push a lot makes it way harder on mom (and probably child). My first child sound a bit the same–fully potty trained for a few months, then a reversal with lots of accidents which was stressful on me. So, I gave up, went diapers full time again, relaxed, and told myself she would do it soon. About 3-4 months later, she did. With all of mine, I would talk about using the potty and encourage them to do it when they felt like it (and told them about the big-girl/boy underpants they could wear when they did not need diapers anymore). When they were ready, they let me know. It helped me to think that the average time to even start potty training in America is 2.5 in and it can take up to 6 months. I think our doctor told us (and I’ve also read) that, in general, the earlier potty training is started, the longer it takes to get it completely done. So, I have thought about that also. Sometimes seeing that “big” kids use the bathroom and not diapers helps (like seeing kids at preschool or older siblings/cousins). A little potty may help, but my last 2 never used it–they just wanted the big one. Good luck!

completely agree. never push it. also agree with the comments on bribery/ rewarding successes. we had to stretch out the length of time to get a reward after awhile. getting a treat after each potty time wasn’t going to work forever.

temporary tattoos. advice passed on from a friend and it worked like a charm. my son turned 2 today and has been potty trained for three plus months. at one point, he looked like a biker with tattoos up to his neck and down both arms. i kind of loved it.

Out of desperation to finally end the diaper phase, I invented the “poopy fairy”. She comes to visit little boys and girls who use the potty, leaving them a small little treat somewhere in the house that they can then go on a hunt to find. I explained who the poopy fairy was to my son, and how she would leave a treat for him to find if he used the potty. Guess what, no more accidents, EVER! He LOVED to hunt around to find the treats! Good luck!

My eldest starting getting interested in the potty around 18 months and between then and the time when he was completely “trained” there was lots of back and forth with diapers (we also had a second child during this time, which I’m sure prolonged things).

We never made a big deal out of him wanting to be back in diapers for awhile and we never made a big deal (besides a round of high fives) about him going on the potty either. He abandoned diapers during the day a few months before he turned 3 and gave up his diaper at night at about 3.5 and he’s hardly ever had an accident. I know that all kids are different, but I echo the “don’t push it” advice….its totally low stress for everyone, which is generally the path I favor.

In my experience, set backs are pretty natural. With my 3 girls, illness, travel, or big changes could cause a period of time with lots of accidents. I just made little pottys available and took them to the bathroom all the time when out and about. It’ll settle back down after some consistency. And easy off pants are a must. I always bought undies and pants one size larger to make it really easy to pull down unassisted

Been reading for a couple of months and I love your blog. Thanks for all the sharing! You and I have similar tastes in things that delight.

I just recently potty-trained my little girl after having previous potty training knocked off the rails by sickness. I think what did it for her was me getting my resolve back to be done with diapers. Subconsciously, I didn’t want to go back to hounding her to go potty so I was falling back on the diapers more than absolutely necessary. Once I steeled myself for 100% potty-training it was like she could feel my resolve and her wishy-washy feelings towards the potty cleared right up.

I also totally agree that 3 years seems to be a magic number for potty-training. Every child is different so all you can do is follow good advice and keep trying until something sticks. Good luck!

Ahh…I’m right behind you as my baby boy is 21 months. I’m in no hurry to start potty training…and wont until he shows signs that he’s interested. (please baby, sooner than later) I have a 6 yo daughter and this is what worked with her. First, I put a small stool next to the toilet and loaded it up with books. The book Everyone Poops is great! When she decided she wanted to sit on it we would read stories and make up stories and sing silly made up songs about poop! Yeah, that was me singing about poop in the public restroom. We also made a little step for the potty and used one of those cushioned child-potty inserts. It worked so well that eventually I had to take the library out of the bathroom or she’d sit there for an hour or more!

Our kids – when we thought they were “ready” we bought them character underwear. In the morning, we’d make a big deal about which character we were going to wear that day. We’d talk about how we “couldn’t pee on Spongebob…or Bob the Builder…or Tinkerbell” (depending on the child). We’d essentially potty train ourselves – constantly asking “do you need to go???” If there was an accident (which honestly was rare because we potty trained at late 2/very early 3 – and they could communicate with us very well) – but if there was an accident, we’d go back into diapers for the rest of the day and try again the next day. Since we already knew that they were ready to go….there was very little frustration and training went very quickly. Good luck!

As a Preschool Director, I have helped lots and lots of families potty train, my best advise to you is to go cold turkey. No more diapers at all. The back and forth between diapers in town and undies at home is very confusing for wee ones. It may be best to wait until he is ready again. It’s important to make it a really fun and positive experience for everyone. So this is the run down I give parents: start on a weekend that you don’t have much going on and will be at home for the most part. Cut the diapers out completely, only offer them at nap time and bed time. Then when the kiddo goes back to school, (maybe not relevant for you), make sure that anyone in charge of the kiddo does the same sort of stuff, stay consistent. At first there will be lots of accidents and lots of clothes changing, but it will get better each and every day, so stay strong and be ready for laundry, you can do it!

What brand of diaper covers and inserts/prefolds do you use??? We are starting our family, and i intend to use cloth, but am still in the research stage as to which brand to use! Any advice would be appriciated

we’ve used g diapers the entire time, aside from when he was super little and i purchased a number of used cloth diapers from a friend. the biodegradable and cloth inserts you can purchase to go with g diapers always failed us, so i’ve been using prefolds folded into thirds as liners. works like a charm!

I had to laugh I thought I was the only one who had their boys running around naked during the potty training days. I don’t remember any set backs with either child but I do remember the first time my youngest had an accident in the house, I told him it was okay and to take off the wet clothes and here was a clean set of pants. He struggled getting the wet undies off, didn’t like the feel and never had another accident. so I guess what I’m saying is I let it be their responsibility and didn’t intervene to help when there was an accident.

Hi. In our home, we find it best to change the environment to support the development of the child. This helps the child achieve their goals and milestones with minimal outside frustration. So, for potty training, we put several small “chamber pots” from Nova Natural Toys around our home, with cloth diapers underneath them to catch any splashes. It is hard for little ones this age to think and act, “hey, maybe I should stop playing and run to the bathroom.” So, a small potty in each room helps them make it to the potty. One small step at a time; once they master getting to the potty they can work on getting themselves to the big potty. But, our son did the same thing. Potty trained in the summer and then regressed in the winter. It is natural. Something that also helped was easy elastic pants that just pull down and up without a fuss – no underwear or onsies.good luck

22 months old is also a good recommendation for potty training. One thing I would suggest is quitting diapers cold turkey – going back and forth from diapers to underpants will just set you back.. Seriously, not even at night – I just put a towel under DD’s crib sheet (the mattress itself is waterproof) and I washed a lot of sheets! I know it’s hard to go out and about that way but it worked well for us. You just go potty lots and lots while you’re out!!!